DNA Exclusive: I&B Ministry snubs suggestions by Niti Aayog, says they're ill-conceived

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has rejected a slew of recommendations put forth by Niti Aayog — which includes "corporatisation" of the country's premier film schools Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), and merging India's premier journalism school Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) with the Centre for Media Studies of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) or Jamia Milia Islamia.

A Niti Aayog panel reviewing autonomous bodies under the government has recommended merging or 'reducing' 42 of the 114 autonomous bodies in the first phase of its report.

It also includes merging the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI) with the Films Division of the I&B ministry, among others.

The I&B Ministry has, however, shot down all recommendations directed to the autonomous bodies under it, calling them "ill-conceived" in a set of comments sent to the Niti Aayog panel.

Talking about corporatising FTII and SRFTI, sources said that the recommendation does not hold ground, as the proposal is targeted at generating revenue, which is not the goal of the film schools.

"The goal of the film schools is to provide quality training to students in film and television at subsidised fees. If corporatised, it will be difficult for FTII and SRFTI to sustain on their own as the cost of running the institutes is much higher than the revenue generated," an official said.

Official figures state that the I&B Ministry provides an annual grants-in-aid of Rs 40 crore to FTII and Rs 20 crore to SRFTI. While FTII generates Rs 2 crore as revenue, the SRFTI generates around Rs 1.5 crore as revenue.

"The institutes have also started several short term courses for students. The government has started setting up institutes in the north eastern region, for skill development for youths there. All these initiatives will be affected if the institutes are corporatised," the official said. The official added that the government is also trying to improve the FTII Pune campus by setting up digital studios, putting up CCTVs and floodlights in the campus and starting an open-house where people can visit the campus on certain days in a week.

Ministry officials also said that the recommendation of merging CFSI and Films Division is also not feasible since both the bodies have different mandates -- to produce films for children and to educate and inform people about national programmes through films, respectively.

"Moreover, CFSI is an organisation registered under the Societies Act, while Films Division is a government organisation, and merging the two will raise a question on the status of CFSI's employees," an official said.

Sources said that the Films Division, instead has recently been downsized to 515 posts against the earlier 813 posts as the government has plans of merging it with the National Film Development Corporation of India. In such a case, a merger of CFSI and Films Division doesn't hold ground.

The Ministry has also rebuffed the suggestion of merging IIMC with JNU or Jamia Milia Islamia, stating that IIMC has a legacy as a premier journalism school and that JNU's Centre for Media Studies can not be given the same status.

"IIMC is a 52-year-old institution on media education, training and research, as against JNU's Centre for Media Studies which started its direct PHD programme in 2013. Moreover, IIMC is the training academy for Indian Information Service (IIS) officers selected through the prestigious civil services examinations," another official told DNA.

Sources from IIMC also said that the I&B Ministry has already initiated the process of getting IIMC the status of a deemed university, while there are plans of getting FTII, SRFTI and also the proposed National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Gaming and VFX (NCOE), affiliated to the IIMC.

"No team from Niti Aayog or the National Institute of Financial Management (an autonomous institute under the Union Finance Ministry) had visited the IIMC before making such a recommendation," the official said.

Many recommendations on the review of autonomous bodies have been put forth through reports made by NIFM.

The Niti Aayog panel will be going through all 679 autonomous bodies spanning across 68 ministries and government departments -- which has multiplied in the last few decades -- as part of the review process.